Contents -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD

Mawson, C.O.S., ed. (1870–1938). Roget’s International Thesaurus. 1922.

Class I. Words Expressing Abstract Relations
Section VIII. Causation
3. Power in Operation

162. [Nonproduction.] Destruction

   NOUN:DESTRUCTION; waste, dissolution, breaking up; disruption; diruption [obs.], consumption; disorganization.
  FALL, downfall, ruin, perdition, debacle, débâcle [F.], crash, éboulement [F.], smash [colloq.], havoc, délabrement [F.], breakdown, break-up; prostration, cave-in [colloq.]; desolation, bouleversement [F.], wreck, wrack [archaic], shipwreck, cataclysm; washout.
  EXTINCTION, annihilation; destruction of life [See Killing]; knock-out, K. O. [slang], knock-out blow, knock-down blow; doom, crack of doom.
  DESTROYING &c. v.; demolition, demolishment [rare], overthrow, subversion, suppression; abolition (abrogation) [See Abrogation]; biblioclasm; sacrifice; ravage, devastation, razzia; incendiarism; revolution [See Revolution]; extirpation (extraction) [See Extraction]; commencement de la fin [F.], road to ruin; dilapidation (deterioration) [See Deterioration]; sabotage [F.].
   VERB:BE DESTROYED &c.; perish; fall, fall to the ground; tumble, topple; go -, fall- to pieces; break up; crumble, – to dust; go to -the dogs, – the wall, – smash, – shivers, – wreck, – pot [colloq.], – wrack and ruin; go by the board, go all to smash [colloq.]; be all over with, be all up with [colloq.], go to glory [colloq. or slang], go to pieces, go under, go up the spout [colloq.], go bung [slang], totter to its fall.
  DESTROY; do -, make- away with; nullify; annul [See Abrogation]; sacrifice, demolish; tear up; overturn, overthrow, overwhelm; upset, subvert, put an end to; seal the doom of, do for [colloq.], dish [slang], undo; break up, cut up; break down, cut down, pull down, mow down, blow down, beat down; suppress, quash, put down; cut short, take off, blot out; efface, obliterate, cancel, erase, strike out, expunge, delete, dele; dispel, dissipate, dissolve; consume.
  smash, crash, quell, squash [colloq.], squelch [colloq.], crumple up, shatter, shiver; batter; tear -, crush -, cut -, shake -, pull -, pick -to pieces; laniate [rare]; nip; tear to -rags, – tatters; crush -, knock- to atoms; ruin; strike out; throw down, throw over, knock down, knock over, lay out [slang], lay by the heels, fell, sink, swamp, scuttle, wreck, shipwreck, engulf or ingulf, submerge; lay in ashes, lay in ruins; sweep away, raze; level, – with the -ground, – dust.
  deal destruction, lay waste, ravage, gut; disorganize; dismantle &c. (render useless) [See Inutility]; devour, swallow up, desolate, devastate, sap, mine, blast, confound; exterminate, extinguish, quench, annihilate; snuff out, put out, stamp out, trample out; lay -, trample- in the dust; prostrate; tread -, crush -, trample- under foot; lay the ax to the root of; make short work of, make a clean sweep of, make mincemeat of; cut up root and branch; fling -, scatter- to the winds; throw overboard; strike at the root of, sap the foundations of, spring a mine, blow up; ravage with fire and sword; cast to the dogs; eradicate [See Extraction].
   ADJECTIVE:DESTROYED &c. v.; perishing &c. v.; trembling -, nodding -, tottering- to its fall; in course of destruction &c. n.; extinct; all-destroying, all-devouring, all-engulfing.
  DESTRUCTIVE, subversive, ruinous, incendiary, deletory [obs.]; destroying &c. n.; suicidal; deadly (killing) [See Killing].
   ADVERB:with crushing effect, with a sledge hammer.
   QUOTATIONS:

Delenda est Carthago.

Dum Roma deliberat Saguntum perit.

Écrasez l’infâme.—Voltaire

I would fain die a dry death.—Tempest

Contents -AUTHOR INDEX -BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD